Posted on Sun, June 23, 2013 at 23:36 pm CEST
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Hezbollah Involvement in the Syrian Civil War

For Iran and Hezbollah, the preservation of Bashar Assad’s regime is of supreme strategic importance… Continue reading

Topics: Hezbollah • Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center • Iran • Lebanon • Religion • Shi'ism • Sunni-Shia Conflict • Syria • Syrian Revolution 
Posted on Fri, June 21, 2013 at 17:03 pm CEST
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New Moderates! Syrian Rebels, Iranian President, and the Taliban!

To get a picture of current U.S. Middle East policy just imagine a “Cold War” in which the United States would side with the Communists… Continue reading

Topics: Iran • Security and Defense • Syrian Revolution • Taliban • U.S. Middle East Policy 
Posted on Tue, June 11, 2013 at 23:16 pm CEST
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Can Assad’s Syria Survive Revolution?

How the Assad regime has managed to survive the revolution, for the time being and in contrast to other recent upheavals in the Middle East… Continue reading

Topics: Alawis • Arab Spring • Culture • Democracy • History • Politics • Security and Defense • Syria • Syrian Revolution 
Posted on Wed, April 3, 2013 at 12:08 pm CEST
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The Arab-Kurdish Battle in Syria: Implications for Turkey’s Standing

The battle over the Syrian town Ras al-Ain on the border to Turkey damaged Turkish relations with the Kurds in Syria, and with parts of Syrian opposition… Continue reading

Topics: Kurdish People • Syrian Kurdistan • Syrian Revolution • Turkey 
Posted on Thu, February 21, 2013 at 01:06 am CET
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Iran Has to Prefer Syria to the Khuzestan Region

Should Iran give more importance to Syria than to the Khuzestan region… Continue reading

Topics: Arab World • Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center • Iran • Shi'ism • SouthWest Asia • Sunni-Shia Conflict • Syrian Revolution 
Posted on Tue, February 19, 2013 at 00:35 am CET
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Turkey and Tehran: A Cold Peace

The Turkish-Iranian relationship is primed for problems due to differing geopolitical and sectarian interests… Continue reading

Topics: Diplomacy • Iran • Iraq • Syrian Revolution • Turkey 
Posted on Thu, January 31, 2013 at 00:25 am CET
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Why Israel Attacked A Syrian Base

Israel forces carried out a strike overnight on a convoy coming from Syria in the Lebanon-Syria border area… Continue reading

Topics: Hezbollah • Israel • Israel Defense Forces • Lebanon • Security and Defense • Syria 
Posted on Sat, January 26, 2013 at 12:33 pm CET
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Anti-Islamism in an Islamic Civil War

The notion of a Sunni-Shi’ite conflict is not the only perceived dichotomy at play in the Syrian civil war… Continue reading

Topics: Alawis • History • Religion • Shi'ism • Sunni-Shia Conflict • Syrian Revolution 
Posted on Tue, January 22, 2013 at 21:40 pm CET
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Won’t Syria Be Obama’s Main Middle East Crisis in 2013?

The Syrian civil war will go on until one side wins and the other loses. And a lot more people are going to die… Continue reading

Topics: Diplomacy • Syrian Revolution • U.S. Middle East Policy 
Posted on Thu, January 17, 2013 at 23:28 pm CET
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The Folly of Arming Syria’s Rebels

What can the United States can do to counteract the glaring Islamization of rebel ranks… Continue reading

Topics: Syrian Revolution • United States of America 
Posted on Wed, December 19, 2012 at 00:52 am CET
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U.S. Policy is Making Syria into an Anti-Western, Antisemitic Islamist State

Western policy is now putting into power yet another anti-Western regime that will oppress its own people and put a high priority on trying to wipe out Israel… Continue reading

Topics: Islamism • Leftist-Islamic Alliance • Muslim Brotherhood • Religion • Syrian Revolution • U.S. Middle East Policy 
Posted on Sat, December 15, 2012 at 15:11 pm CET
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Turkey to Deploy Patriot Missiles

Turkey’s membership in NATO has many unique dimensions, including in the number of missile-related crises the country has experienced… Continue reading

Topics: NATO • Russian Federation • Security and Defense • Syrian Revolution • Turkey 
Posted on Thu, December 13, 2012 at 21:19 pm CET
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Who Will Rule Syria? A Detailed Assessment

The civil war in Syria is moving into the end-game… Continue reading

Topics: Alawis • Muslim Brotherhood • Politics • Syrian Kurdistan • Syrian Revolution • U.S. Middle East Policy 
Posted on Sat, December 8, 2012 at 14:29 pm CET
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Syria’s Assyrians, caught in the middle

Of all the Christian communities in Syria, the Assyrians, that is, those Christians who identify as such by virtue of belonging to the Assyrian Church of the East, arguably have the most complex relationship with the Assad regime… Continue reading

Topics: Christianity • Culture • Iraq • Kurdish People • Religion • Syrian Revolution 
Posted on Wed, November 21, 2012 at 13:14 pm CET
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Syria: Spillover into Iraq?

Is the resurgent of Al-Qaida in Iraq a result from the growing civil war in Syria… Continue reading

Topics: Al-Qaeda • Iraq • Islamic Terrorism • Syrian Revolution 
Posted on Sun, November 4, 2012 at 16:11 pm CET
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Russia-Turkey Strains Deepen over Syria

The Syrian crisis is a good test of the strength of the Russia-Turkish detente… Continue reading

Topics: Diplomacy • Economy • Energy • International Law • Politics • Russian Federation • Security and Defense • Syrian Revolution • Turkey 
Posted on Sat, November 3, 2012 at 22:15 pm CET
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Turkey’s Changing Syria Policy: Giving Diplomacy a Chance?

Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan, proposed that the crisis in Syria be addressed through diplomatic methods and called for the establishment of an international mechanism for dialogue… Continue reading

Topics: Azerbaijan • Diplomacy • Iran • Syria • Turkey 
Posted on Sat, November 3, 2012 at 10:21 am CET
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The Pro-Islamist Obama Administration: A Case Study in Syria

It is obvious that the Syrian National Council was a Muslim Brotherhood front group, yet the Obama Administration backed it any way… Continue reading

Topics: Islamism • Obamaism • Syrian Revolution • U.S. Middle East Policy 
Posted on Sat, October 27, 2012 at 16:24 pm CEST
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What Does Turkey Hope to Achieve with Its War Threats Against Syria?

The Turkish government appears to hope to deter the continued Syrian – and Iranian – deployment of the Kurdish card against Turkey… Continue reading

Topics: Kurdish People • Security and Defense • Syrian Kurdistan • Syrian Revolution • Turkey • Turkish Kurdistan 
Posted on Tue, August 21, 2012 at 20:43 pm CEST
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Getting Priorities Wrong in Egypt and Syria: Three Media Case Studies

Focus is everything — knowing what the central problem is, and dealing with it… Continue reading

Topics: Egypt • Islamism • Syrian Revolution • The Media 
Posted on Tue, August 21, 2012 at 20:01 pm CEST
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Which Way for Syria? Listen to the Sermons

The closer one gets to ground level in the Middle East, the crazier things become… Continue reading

Topics: Democracy • Religion • Security and Defense • Syrian Revolution 
Posted on Wed, August 8, 2012 at 21:21 pm CEST
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Who’s Really Isolated? He Who Misunderstands Middle East Realities

One of the mantras from Israel’s supposed foreign well-wishers is that the country is now “isolated.” Sure, on the surface this makes sense… Continue reading

Topics: Egypt • Hamas • Hezbollah • Israel • Jordan • Lebanon • Security and Defense • Syria 
Posted on Wed, August 8, 2012 at 20:41 pm CEST
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The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly About the Syrian Civil War

Ammar Abdulhamid may know more about Syria’s civil war than anyone else in the world. That’s no exaggeration. Barry Rubin interviewed Abdulhamid on the latest developments and trends… Continue reading

Topics: Politics • Syrian Revolution 
Posted on Tue, July 17, 2012 at 19:05 pm CEST
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Will the Rebels Win Syria’s Civil War and What That Means

The tide seems to be turning in Syria… Continue reading

Topics: Alawis • Security and Defense • Syrian Kurdistan • Syrian Revolution • U.S. Middle East Policy 
Posted on Mon, July 2, 2012 at 19:37 pm CEST
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Turkey and Syria: An Undeclared State of War

After Syria’s downing of a Turkish aircraft over the eastern Mediterranean, the question is not so much why Syria shot it down as why the two neighbors have become embroiled in a confrontation in the first place… Continue reading

Topics: Alawis • PKK • Politics • Security and Defense • Syria • Syrian Revolution • Turkey